Steinberg discusses the new PS3 ad campaign's success
As you guys are probably aware, the PS3 has gone through some rapid shifts in advertising lately -- shortly after their latest test with the ads highlighting important game titles among its other uses, Sony dropped their ad company and enlisted a new one. But how did those new ads work out? Scott Steinberg, VP of Marketing at SCEA, lets us know what's up with that campaign. In a nutshell, he says, "It's exceeded all our expectations. We've had great comments from analysts and our business partners that it's really elevating the PS3 business." Then let's bust out the champagne, right? Even the band in the commercial, Saliva, has felt some success from the ad campaign.
Retailers have also helped by bundling in Blu-ray movies after the ads aired and as Steinberg explains, this helps explain "why it's being promoted in stores so aggressively. It's no doubt that it's a big part of our value proposition [for the PS3] and we feel we have done a great part of emphasizing on the merchandising half of things; it's paying dividends."
Steinberg took a minute to talk about his move from the Sega Genesis days to his time now at Sony. Since we've got a soft spot for the ol' Sega boys, we'll give you the skinny. "There is so much passion around the technology and the products, and a lot of that at Sony reminds me of the 'halcyon' days when 16-bit was just taking off ... There's nothing like the technology and entertainment businesses; we've merged them both and it's an addictive cocktail." We hope he continues to spearhead such effective ad campaigns in the future and remind us why the Genesis rocked so hard and how the PS3 will, too. Assuming you thought the Genesis rocked hard. It did. It had Phantasy Star.
